August 25th gig at The Palms

Gonna be a great, fun night. Amanda, her Dad tells me, has been assiduously 'sheddin' her chart. 10:30 pm, no cover, no minimum as always. Be there. BTW- Our homie Jerry Jones of the awesome Fifth Avenue is bringing renowned bassist and Grammy nominee Brian Bromberg to hang.

POST GIG REPORT

Wow, was that ever off the hook fine. I have 120 shots to sort through and triage, so will again post incrementally. Another late start blogging, 2:18 a.m. First of all, major props to Amanda Corvini for steppin' up and sittin' in on bari.

Above Amanda, throwin' down next to Berklee alum Phil Wigfall. As I'd posted on August 15th:

We will welcome a family of musicians from the Boston area as special audience guests a week from Monday. They are so stoked about coming to see the band. The daughter in this tribe is 21 year old Amanda Corvini, bari sax player in the Berklee School of Music Tower of Power ensemble...

Mom and Dad are both Berklee alum. They've been wanting to come and see Santa Fe for quite some time, so when Dad told me their family story via emails, I told him "have her bring her axe." We emailed her the bari chart to "Ain't That Peculiar?" along with an mp3 cut.

She came all totally ready. Blew the chart flawlessly. Thanks to everyone for making her and her folks so welcome.

That was just too cool. She should be gettin' some "Fat City Practicum" credit back at school for that stint!

UPDATE, lo and behold:

Berklee School Catalog update, Fall 2008 Semester

FAT CITY NASTIOLOGY PRACTICUM 402 (3 credit hours): Student must be accepted to a sit-in appearance with The Fat City Horns in Las Vegas and successfully execute a chart of the band's choosing, with no prior rehearsal with the horn section. Successful practicum completion serves additionally as a 12 week USMC boot camp waiver. PREREQUISITE: Minimum of one semester in the Berklee School of Music Tower of Power ensemble.

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Below, Major Bad Boy Bill Zappia subbed for Dave Richardson tonight, and Howard Arthur opened the show on guitar for Jerry.

BRANDON FIELDS IN THE HOUSE!

Oh, yeah! Wow. Talk about lightin' the place up. Jeesh...

Monster player, this cat. Yikes.

CHRISTINE LaFOND IN THE HOUSE!

Lady flat out sings! She did "Use Me" and tore it up.

Christine is now gigging Thursdays - Mondays at Paris, with Howard Arthur, btw. 9 pm. Check 'em out.

OK, time for some random shots from the evening...

Jamie, doin' his awesome original "This Time."

Below, Tony Davich brought the house down with "You Don't Know Me."

Dr. Lenny The Lopez!

Above, Jamie takes time out from playing in the middle of a tune to grab my camera and shoot me, LOL!

Below, a total crush of butt-whupping music at the end, everyone throwin' down "System of Survival."

Above, Jerry and Amanda after the show, with Brian Bromberg (right) and his companion (whose name I unfortunately did not get).

What a night! Thanks to all of you who showed up, both onstage and off. Thanks to the Corvini family for sharing their incredibly talented, smart, and sweet daughter with us.

Tired, man, I'm fixin' to crash. It's almost 4 a.m. Keep checking back for updates. BTW, Tommy Alvarado's Slick Willie Orchestra will be at The Blue Martini tonight (6 pm TUE, Town Square) and then The Square Apple (10 pm TUE, 1000 E. Sahara).
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UPDATE: Our CEO of Soul and resident Santa Fe Seat of Funkster has an eloquent take on Amanda's appearance last night.